Please Help Settle A Debate

[Guest]

Hi all,

 

i am in the throws of a interesting conversation with a friend who works in another nursery. she said that in her baby room they have six babies, 2 staff, but one staff is level two qualified and the other is working towards level three (and level two person about to start level three), so basically a level two , and a training level three person, is this allowed?. she says both staff are experienced in nursery, they work very well and parents extremely happy with care and everything else. the manager in the nursery also works closely with them.

now what she is wondering is, is this allowed?, is staffing qulaifications per room more management choice rather than legal requirements?, the nursery maintains the correct qualified/unqualified ration across the nursery as a whole.

 

what are your thoughts, i know my friend is worried that if this was not allowed it would cause disruption in her nursery as staff would have to move, and this would not benefit anyone.

 

any ideas?

 

Dawn

[Cait]

She could check with Ofsted. How close to being a level 3 is the main one?

[Guest]

She could check with Ofsted. How close to being a level 3 is the main one?

 

about 6 months.

[Cait]

Hmm, it's a tricky one, and probably best that she ask her EY team for their input. Has she done some sort of risk assessment or plan to show that she's aware of it? Does she overview the room?

[mrsbat]

well fomr what the inspector was saying at my inspection today, the answer is yes, you do need at least one level 3 in each room

[Alison]

if it was a short term problem and there was an action plan in place then Ofsted would take that in consideration the fact there is a member of staff working towards level 3, if it was in an action plan might help.

 

it used to be ok providing there was level 3's on the premises and if the level 2 had a few years experience it helped but thats changed now.

[HappyMaz]

if it was a short term problem and there was an action plan in place then Ofsted would take that in consideration the fact there is a member of staff working towards level 3, if it was in an action plan might help.

My early years team advised me to write out my action plan showing how I was supporting staff to gain a Level 3 qualification, with estimated timescales etc. However I'm still not 100% confident that Ofsted would accept this on inspection day.

 

I had also heard that Ofsted are no longer accepting the 'working towards' approach since we have had so much time to get ready for the EYFS... but not from anyone official!

 

Maz

[Guest]

I'm pretty sure that something like this has been discussed on here before?

 

I think before the EYFS was brought in then someone working towards a L3 could be counted as qualified to L3 with an action plan etc, however I think now they HAVE to be qualified to L3, at least that's my intepretation! It's all very confusing isn't it??

[Guest]

no it is not one person must hold a level 3 and person in charge must have suitable experience of working with babies ratio must be 1 2 3

at least half of the other staff must hold level 2

 

hope that helps

[Guest]

hi,

 

could some kind soul help me direct my friend to the written guidance on this? (ofsted, EYFS pack?????)

 

Thanks

 

Dawn

[Guest]

look in the statutory framework for EYFS welfare requirements appendix 2. page 49. hope this helps.